THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Putting to rest the anxiety and apprehensions that lasted more than 36 hours, the 13-year-old Assamese girl, who went missing from Kazhakootam on Tuesday morning, was found on a train at Visakhapatnam railway station.
The girl was found asleep on one of the berths in the Santragachi Antyodaya Express by Keralites, who identified her to be the missing child, and informed the matter to the Kerala Samajam members in Visakhapatnam.
The child was taken out of the train and handed over to the Railway Protection Force. The child was visibly exhausted due to hunger, but her health was otherwise satisfactory, sources said.
The sources added that the train reached Visakhapatnam station by 10 pm and the child was handed over to the railway officials. The matter was duly conveyed to the child’s parents in Kazhakootam, who profusely thanked the state police and the media for getting the child back without any harm.
The police from the CCTV visuals got to know that the girl reached Egmore station on Wednesday morning via a train from Kanyakumari. Thereafter, she took the train that departed Chennai by 8 am.
The police had doubts that the child could’ve taken a train to Kolkata as the direct train to Guwahati was not available.
The police sources said they had alerted the railway police and the local police about the possible movement of the girl.
“There were two trains travelling towards Kolkata. On Wednesday night, one of the trains had reached Vijayawada, while the other was approaching Visakhapatnam. An alert was issued to check the trains as we had a hunch that she was in one of the trains,” said a police source.
The police sources said they knew the girl would be safe if she had boarded the train. “We were more worried about her safety while travelling from Guwahati to Hojai, which is her native place,” the source added.
The police department used all the powers at its disposal to trace the girl, who had left her parents after being scolded by her mother.
A senior police official told TNIE that the girl appeared confident from the visuals obtained from CCTV cameras, and that was a silver lining.
“Her body language has been really positive and confident. We have discussed the matter with people, who are regularly dealing with issues of migrant labourers and they said it was quite normal for a girl of such age to travel alone. Because of societal reasons, they mature fast and assume the responsibilities of looking after younger kids in the family. That way we felt she handled herself throughout her journey,” the officer added.
The girl had travelled from Kazhakootam to Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday morning by bus. From there, she took a train to Kanyakumari, which was confirmed after she was caught in a CCTV camera at Nagercoil station while getting down to fetch water. After reaching Kanyakumari, she sat on the same train, which then took her to Egmore.
The police initially suspected that she might’ve taken another train which was destined for Assam, from Kanyakumari as it halted close to the one in which she travelled to Egmore.
However, it was revealed that she did not board that train. The police had deployed three teams to track the child.